Secrets and lies on Gang Related’

Monday

Jun 9, 2014 at 11:15 AMJun 9, 2014 at 1:30 PM

“Gang Related,” Fox’s new police drama will feel familiar if you’ve seen the film “The Departed.” Similar to the movie’s premise, it’s the story of a policeman living a double life. Detective Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez) is part of an elite gang task force. But he’s also part of a powerful Latino gang called Los Angelicos, whose leader is a surrogate father to him and responsible for his job on the force. Ryan feels a strong allegiance to both his gang family and his police family.

Any character put in a double life scenario is more interesting if their split loyalties feel real and painful to them. “Gang Related” does a decent job of this but Rodriguez’s performance would be stronger if he played Ryan in a more heightened state of anxiety. It’s not easy convincing your fellow cops that you are one of them while trying to sabotage their work to catch the bad guys. The effort should be depicted as relentlessly exhausting. So far, it’s portrayed as mildly frustrating.

It’s also not easy to create weekly scenarios where Ryan will fool both sides. There’s only so many times that he can get away with giving the gang information that protects their interests without arousing the suspicion of his fellow task force members. The show needs to avoid becoming a weekly game of: “Whew! That was a close one!”

So far, it doesn’t look promising. The plots feel so familiar you can follow them without paying too much attention. There’s a crime (murder, a shipment of drugs). The taskforce shakes down some unlucky informants. They find the bad guy. Ryan makes a few moves to lessen or even remove the impact on Los Angelicos, all without implicating himself. He secretly meets with his gang father Javier Acosta (Cliff Curtis) who he wants to make proud. He interacts with his police father Sam Chapel (Terry O’Quinn) who he also wants to make proud.

Further complicating Ryan’s life is Javier’s son Daniel (Jay Hernandez), his childhood best friend, who is engaged to a woman Ryan used to love. Daniel is an investment banker uninvolved with the family business but he knows that Ryan keeps his father’s criminal enterprise running smoothly. Is he a good guy? Is Ryan?

The overall idea of “Gang Related” rests on blurring the boundaries between hero and villain. Ryan protects his community from gang activity but also makes it possible for the most powerful gang in his community to exist. Do his decisions mean he’s bad or good? He makes a choice at the end of the Pilot which nicely sets this tone and suggests that the internal battle he fights isn’t as straightforward as it appears. The show will be far more interesting if it continues in this way and takes Ryan’s dilemma as seriously as it deserves.

“Gang Related” is on Thursdays at 9 p.m. EDT on Fox.

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“Gang Related,” Fox’s new police drama will feel familiar if you’ve seen the film “The Departed.” Similar to the movie’s premise, it’s the story of a policeman living a double life. Detective Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez) is part of an elite gang task force. But he’s also part of a powerful Latino gang called Los Angelicos, whose leader is a surrogate father to him and responsible for his job on the force. Ryan feels a strong allegiance to both his gang family and his police family.

Any character put in a double life scenario is more interesting if their split loyalties feel real and painful to them. “Gang Related” does a decent job of this but Rodriguez’s performance would be stronger if he played Ryan in a more heightened state of anxiety. It’s not easy convincing your fellow cops that you are one of them while trying to sabotage their work to catch the bad guys. The effort should be depicted as relentlessly exhausting. So far, it’s portrayed as mildly frustrating.

It’s also not easy to create weekly scenarios where Ryan will fool both sides. There’s only so many times that he can get away with giving the gang information that protects their interests without arousing the suspicion of his fellow task force members. The show needs to avoid becoming a weekly game of: “Whew! That was a close one!”

So far, it doesn’t look promising. The plots feel so familiar you can follow them without paying too much attention. There’s a crime (murder, a shipment of drugs). The taskforce shakes down some unlucky informants. They find the bad guy. Ryan makes a few moves to lessen or even remove the impact on Los Angelicos, all without implicating himself. He secretly meets with his gang father Javier Acosta (Cliff Curtis) who he wants to make proud. He interacts with his police father Sam Chapel (Terry O’Quinn) who he also wants to make proud.

Further complicating Ryan’s life is Javier’s son Daniel (Jay Hernandez), his childhood best friend, who is engaged to a woman Ryan used to love. Daniel is an investment banker uninvolved with the family business but he knows that Ryan keeps his father’s criminal enterprise running smoothly. Is he a good guy? Is Ryan?

The overall idea of “Gang Related” rests on blurring the boundaries between hero and villain. Ryan protects his community from gang activity but also makes it possible for the most powerful gang in his community to exist. Do his decisions mean he’s bad or good? He makes a choice at the end of the Pilot which nicely sets this tone and suggests that the internal battle he fights isn’t as straightforward as it appears. The show will be far more interesting if it continues in this way and takes Ryan’s dilemma as seriously as it deserves.